An ordinance that would establish a city-wide juvenile curfew in the City of Pensacola is scheduled to go before the City Council next week. Proposed by Mayor D.C. Reeves, the measure includes civil penalties for violations for teens and their parents.
Mayor Reeves mentioned that the ordinance was on the agenda for the August meeting during his weekly news conference on Wednesday. Then he offered some highlights.
“If you’re under 18, you can be out until 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. It will citywide and it will be year-round,” Reeves stated. “All penalties are going to be civil not criminal. And there are penalties for parents and guardians that are built into the ordinance.”
The mayor also laid out a list of specific exemptions to include minors who are married or emancipated, as well as those accompanied by a parent or authorized adult, responding to emergencies, and traveling to or from First Amendment-protected activities.
“That’s one of the big questions we get is ‘Well, what if I work in a restaurant and I’m coming home from work,’” he said. “Obviously, there are common sense protections within this ordinance of somebody that may need to be out during that time. That is not what this ordinance is trying to address.”
Reeves initially floated the idea of a youth curfew after the July 4th holiday, a night where a 19-year-old was the victim of a fatal shooting and six others were injured. But he clarified that the ordinance is not a “kneejerk” reaction to the shooting incident.
“What happened previous to that act, which is having our officers identify 12- and 13-year-olds that are out on the 4th of July, unattended after 11 o’clock, after midnight,” he explained. “So, I see why people are trying to combine these two because the thing that was very notable was this senseless shooting. But there were other more minor, yet disturbing, ideas that we have, you know, middle school age kids out on their own and causing issues for our officers and to be able to protect our city.”
The mayor said this problem of unattended kids being out late is an alarming trend that is occurring nationally and across the state.
“It’s why there’s already a state statute that codifies what these times are. It just needs to be codified here for us to be able to enforce it,” Reeves said.
On the penalty side, a first violation will result in a written warning for both minors and parents. A second violation is a civil infraction, where minors will be fined $100 and parents/guardians will be fined $250. Subsequent violations would result in minors being fined $250 and their parents/guardians fined $500 per violation.
According to Reeves, their objective is to have an ordinance that deters behavior and has a level of fairness.
“I don’t think anybody in this building would suggest that the first time a 16-year-old is out at 12:05 that we would want to be taking them to jail,” he declared. “I don’t think that is what the goal is here or that we want to (have) maybe a stupid decision by someone to be out for that to be permanently on their record. I don’t that that fits the issue, but I absolutely do think that parents having some accountability for their minor children does fit this issue.”
A first reading of the ordinance is set for Thursday, Aug. 13, with a second reading and final vote in September. The ordinance could take effect as soon as five days after the September meeting, but Reeves said enactment more likely will be based on police readiness to enforce it.
